OAKALLA, TEXAS

Burnet County, Texas Hill Country

30° 59' 11" N, 97° 55' 31" W 30.986389, -97.925278
FM 2657 and 963
On the Lampasas River, off Highway 183
9 mile N of Briggs
SW of Killeen
27 miles NE of Burnet the county seat
Population: 99 est. (2000) 45 est (1990)

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A feed store in Oakalla
Photo courtesy Erik Whetstone, August 2005

History in a Pecan Shell

Settled in the 1850s, there is little to say about Oakalla until 1879 when the post office opened.

By 1881 the town had a gin, store and doctor (See Lucius Seneca Hine, M.D.) By 1890 the town had 100 people and a dozen businesses. In 1896, the population had increased to 175.

A two-story school built on a donated site in 1890, also served as a church until 1908.

In 1920 the wooden school was torn down, and rebuilt using stones from a rock school building that had been on Gregory Branch. In 1929 the building was expanded by two rooms.

Sometime after 1930 the post office was closed and the town's schools merged with those in Briggs in 1946 and 56. In 1958 the entire district merged with Lampasas schools.

The population went from 180 in 1925 to around 100 from the 40s through the 70s. It fell to 45 in the 1980s. The 1920 school remains in use as a community center and library.

Former Oakalla school, now Community Center, Texas

The 1920 former schoolhouse, now the community center
Photo courtesy Erik Whetstone, August 2005
More Texas Schoolhouses

Oakalla long ago
Photo courtesy Joe Williams

Oakalla, same scene, today
Photo courtesy Joe Williams
More Texas Then & Now

People

Lucius Seneca Hine, M.D.
A Yankee Doctor in Oakalla, Texas after the Civil War

Take a road trip

Oakalla, Texas Nearby Towns:
Burnet the county seat
See Burnet County | Texas Hill Country

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